To the Lifeboats
by ScaryCatfish
Summary: A one-shot focusing on Thomas Andrews Jr. and his experiences aboard Titanic.


_Titanic_'s sailing day at Southampton, England, was finally here after three years of building at Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. She was the largest moving object ever built, along with her elder sister ship, _Olympic_. Both of them weighed 45,000 tons and were 882½ feet long. Building such a magnificent ship came at a steep price; several workers were injured and two men had died in construction accidents. During the voyage, a select group of men in each department from Harland and Wolff entitled the Guarantee Group traveled aboard_ Titanic _in order to ensure the ship was in working order. Their leader was Thomas Andrews Jr., the managing director of the firm and a head naval architect of the Olympic Class Liners.

He was a well-built and tall man, standing at six feet tall. Both his hair and eyes were a dark shade of brown that resembled dark chocolate. One who merely looked upon him would see that he radiated kindness from his soul. All of the men in the shipyard looked up to Thomas, despite their various differences from him. Thomas was always a diligent worker who strived for perfection. At age sixteen, he became an apprentice at Harland and Wolff, working for several months in each department. Towards the end of his apprenticeship, he worked the longest inside the drawing room with the naval architects. His present position of managing director was uncommon for someone at his current age, 39. After _Titanic_'s maiden voyage, he would be promoted by his uncle, Lord William Pirrie. This was to be the pinnacle of his career, along with the entirety of shipbuilding.

Southampton's seaport buzzed with activity; newly hired stokers, firemen, stewards, stewardesses, and deckhands boarded onto the grand vessel early on the morning of April 10th, 1912. None of them had ever seen such a massive ship in their entire careers at sea. At 9:30 AM, everyone, ranging from the prestigious millionaires of First Class to the emigrants of Third Class, all began to arrive with their various possessions. The sound of her deep whistles could be heard throughout all of Southampton, indicating that today was sailing day. Almost all of the town's inhabitants stood on the dock, in awe of the mountainous liner before them.

Thomas Andrews exited cabin A36, wandered around the Aft-Grand Staircase, and through a door to the Promenade Deck. He glanced at his pocket watch. It was now almost noon and time to set sail. The double reciprocating engines roared to life below in the engine room, causing the triple screw propellers to turn underwater, which propelled the ship forward. _Titanic_'s massive size had created an equally massive suction. A much smaller steamship, _New York,_ was pulled dangerously close to her hull. Onlookers watched in suspense as the _New York_ drifted closer towards _Titanic_. The dock pilot maneuvered away from the _New York_, turning the helm rapidly. His efforts were successful and disaster had been averted. Relieved, the inhabitants of Southampton bid her passengers farewell once more. _Titanic_ continued onwards through the English Channel to Cherbourg, France.

Thomas had already taken several notes inside of his notebook describing his observations along with various improvements that needed to be made to the ship. The coat hooks in each stateroom had too many screws attaching them to the wall and the private promenades of the First Class suites had too dark of a color scheme. Thomas had decided to wander throughout the ship in order to examine every detail once again. His thoughts were soon rudely interrupted by J. Bruce Ismay, Chairman of the White Star Line. Ismay was slightly taller than Thomas and easily recognizable because of his curly mustache.

"Ah, Thomas, always writing in that notebook of yours. I simply do not comprehend how you see any flaws in this remarkable ship! _Titanic _is the most luxurious and largest liner to ever sail the sea. Not to mention that she's unsinkable," Ismay boasted.

"Mr. Ismay, no ship, even _Titanic_, is unsinkable."

"Nonsense! _Titanic_ is certainly unsinkable. Why else would I have told you to remove all of those excess, useless 'little boats'? Besides, they would have cluttered the boat-deck, rendering it useless to our passengers! We certainly would not want that would we now, Thomas? Remember the watertight bulkheads down below? Oh, how _you_ wanted to extend them up to A Deck. Yet again, another waste of space that could be used by passengers! Ha!"

"Yes, Mr. Ismay. Everything for the passengers."

"Remember, Thomas, these are my ships, not yours. I will always have the final say in the design. Know your place."

Ismay continued on throughout the corridor as Thomas watched him. Thomas knew Ismay was wrong, but had no choice but to listen. White Star was a formidable power in the passenger ship industry and relied on Harland and Wolff to build their entire fleet. Harland and Wolff would be ruined without White Star buying ships from the yard. Besides, _Olympic_ and _Titanic_ had a sister ship, _Gigantic_, on the way. Still, Thomas was greatly bothered by Ismay's disregard for passenger and crew safety.

At 6 PM, _Titanic_ arrived in Cherbourg, France. A few passengers disembarked. New ones came aboard on tender ships,_ Nomadic_ and _Traffic_, which ferried them from the shore to _Titanic_. Among the new arrivals was Margaret "Maggie" Brown, a well-known socialite and activist. Now, _Titanic_ departed for the Irish Sea towards Queenstown, Ireland. On the 11th, a similar process occurred in Queenstown. Merchants selling fine Irish lace clothing and doilies approached _Titanic_ in hopes of making a profit. John Jacob Astor, the richest man aboard, thought nothing of paying 800 dollars for a lace jacket for his wife Madeline.

Seeing Ireland again made Thomas remember Belfast. He had made several maiden voyage trips before, but he was becoming homesick. Each day at the shipyard, he would stay for hours upon hours in order to guarantee perfection in each project. When Thomas would finally return home to his family, he was almost always exhausted. His daughter Elizabeth, or ELBA as he would call her because of her initials, was growing quickly. Thomas had already missed her first steps and words. Not only was Thomas married to Helen, he was married to his work. Helen understood this, but Thomas wanted to spend more time with his family. Thomas promised to himself that after he returned to Belfast and received his promotion, he would start spending more time with his family.

Finally,_ Titanic_ was out in the open sea. Thomas spent his time making sure everything was in running order, checking on the rest of the Guarantee Group, observing the passengers, and conversing with both the passengers and crew. The crew was especially thankful for his generosity towards them. The stewards and stewardesses were given much larger dormitories than they had ever been given before. The firemen and stokers who spent their days in the fiery boiler room shoveling coal greatly appreciated the water fountain he had added in for their use only. The chief baker, John Joughin, even baked a special loaf of bread just for Thomas in order to show his appreciation and respect towards him.

Ismay was not pleased with _Titanic_'s progress and urged Captain E.J. Smith to speed up the engines. Smith was weary of forcing the engines to travel at full speed because they were new and he believed they were not "broken in" yet. Ismay knew that this was Smith's final voyage and used this fact to his advantage. Ismay wanted to make headlines and make it to New York a day early to break _Olympic_'s speed record. Smith was still weary, but decided to comply with his employer. He delivered the order on the bridge and the message was sent to the engine room. _Titanic_ was now travelling full speed ahead.

The farther _Titanic_ travelled westwards, the more ice warnings she received. The ship's wireless telegraph operators, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, were flooded with ice warnings as they relayed the hundreds of passenger telegrams to Cape Race in Newfoundland. Smith had decided to travel south in order to avoid any ice. It was the 14th of April now and dinner had just been served. As usual, Thomas was sitting with a friend of his, Dr. William O'Loughlin, the ship's surgeon. At a nearby table, Ismay was showing some of the passengers an ice warning he had taken directly from Smith who had presented it to him earlier. Ismay scoffed at the thought of ice being an issue and proceeded to shove it in his coat pocket.

"Why must Ismay tempt fate so? Flaunting non-existent invulnerability in this fashion is certain to cause us troubles," Thomas sighed.

"I agree, Tommie. I believe all of the papers' and magazines' coverage of this ship have caused Ismay to believe that we are, in fact, on an unsinkable vessel. He is foolish in thinking so. If only the thought could cross his mind that he should listen to you for once."

After dinner, Thomas retired to his cabin in order to make revisions to his blueprints. The First Class Reading and Writing room had barely been used throughout the voyage by the passengers; he had decided to make it into more cabins. He became engrossed in his work until there was a knock at the door. Thomas stood up and walked towards the door. Upon opening it, he discovered Captain Smith was standing on the other side of the door with a grave expression. Smith explained that _Titanic_ had collided with an iceberg on the starboard side, presumably on the keel. Thomas grabbed several of his blueprints and followed Captain Smith to make an inspection on the damage. Once he had seen the flooded squash court, mailroom, and the foremost boiler room, Thomas knew that_ Titanic_ was doomed. Thomas, Captain Smith, the officers, and Ismay met on the bridge to discuss the damage.

"She's flooded in the forepeak, all three holds, and then in boiler rooms six and five. The pumps are working in boiler room five, but the other compartments are still flooding," Thomas exclaimed with slight fear in his voice as he motioned to each compartment with his hand.

"Lovely. When can we restart the engines?" Ismay inquired harshly.

"_Titanic_ can only stay afloat with four compartments flooded, not five. The water will flood over each of the bulkheads at E deck. Now, nothing can save her. _Titanic_ will founder."

"But the ship can't sink!"

"She can and she will. It'll take her an hour, two at most. It is a mathematical certainty."

The group dispersed and Captain Smith had the officers begin to prepare the lifeboats to be lowered from the davits into the freezing water of the North Atlantic. The wireless operators Phillips and Bride send out distress calls. Stewards and stewardesses were ordered to rouse all of the passengers from their sleep and put on their lifebelts. The passengers did not understand what was happening and strongly desired to go back to sleep. The band had gathered here to play cheerful tunes that would calm down the passengers to avoid any form of panic. "Alexander's Ragtime Band" was playing as Thomas entered the room. He observed all of the intricate details carved into the wooden panelling on the walls and Grand Staircase. In a matter of just a few hours, all of this would be at the bottom of the Atlantic. It had taken three years to build _Titanic_ and now it would only take a few hours to sink her. There were hardly enough lifeboats for everyone; not even half. Over a thousand people were going to die. Thomas heard someone calling his name from above. It was O'Loughlin, standing on the Grand Staircase.

"Tommie, what's happened?"

"Do not tell anyone this; I do not wish to cause a panic."

"I won't. What happened?"

"_Titanic_ collided with an iceberg on the starboard side. Her bulkheads are overflowing quickly; it'll take her one or two hours. There aren't enough lifeboats, not even enough for half."

"But that would mean… No. All of those people are going to die."

"Yes, we have to give them a chance to live. We must wake the passengers from their sleep and show them the way to the lifeboats. Then we will throw deck chairs over the edge for those who will not be in a lifeboat to cling to."

"That sounds to be a solid plan. Perhaps we should split up in order to be more efficient."

"Yes, certainly. And, Bill?"

"Yes?"

"Good luck to you."

"And to you, Tommie."

The two friends walked their separate ways. Thomas wandered through the labyrinth of corridors and found his way to the staterooms. He knocked on the doors of each stateroom and suite, urging anyone who remained to put on a lifebelt. After awhile, he ascended back to the boat deck. Many of the lifeboats had been lowered now, but they barely had any passengers within them. One boat only had 12 people within it. These boats were made to hold up to 75 people, not just 12. Captain Smith attempted to call back the unfilled lifeboats, but not a single one returned. Those on the lifeboats feared that they would be pulled into the suction of the final plunge. Many were hesitant to go on a lifeboat; those aboard _Titanic_ could not notice how much water she had taken on. From the lifeboats at sea, it was obvious _Titanic_ had suffered a mortal wound. Thomas urged as many passengers as he could to get into the lifeboats. Two women on the boat deck joked about which of the two lifeboats was prettier. The women did not realise the urgency of the situation and so he urged the two of them quickly into a lifeboat. Soon, all of the lifeboats were gone. Ismay had left in one of them. Thomas and several other men began to throw deck chairs off of the side of the ship. Before long, all of the deck chairs were gone too. 1,500 people remained aboard.

There was no hope; almost all of these people were going to die. Many would attempt to climb up towards the aft deck in an attempt to save themselves from being engulfed by the sea, but it would all be in vain. There would certainly be a panic now. Thomas returned once more to the Aft Grand Staircase. Near Cabin A36 was the First Class Smoking Room. He opened the door and stepped inside. The door closed behind him as he proceeded to stand in front of the fireplace. On the mantel was a clock; above the clock was the painting "Plymouth Harbour." This particular painting depicted a massive steamship entering its namesake. _Titanic_ would never make it to New York; nor would all of those who died. His creation was going to be responsible for the deaths of over a thousand people. Thomas had no choice but to stay. If he were to survive, his guilt would haunt him for the rest of his life, always looming behind him. According to his pocket watch, it was currently 2:10 AM. The mantel clock was inaccurate. Suddenly, he was not alone. A steward had found him standing in front of the fireplace.

"Aren't you going to make a try for it, Mr. Andrews?"

Thomas did not respond to the steward, who quickly left. He had made a promise to himself that he was to return to Belfast, but now that could no longer be so. Belfast was only a memory for him now. Helen and Elizabeth were likely sleeping, unaware of the horror that was unfolding several hundred miles away. Now he would miss his daughter's entire life. She would not remember him, but Helen would tell her about how her father was a hero. Of course, Thomas did not see himself as heroic, he blamed himself for everything that had unfolded.

_Titanic_'s hull groaned in agony. He looked once more at his pocket watch and adjusted the time on the mantel clock to 2:20 AM. Everything had to be perfect. His calculation had been incorrect; it took _Titanic_ two hours and forty minutes to sink. Thomas now had to cling to the mantel in order to avoid falling over. It was nearly time. He could hear the oncoming wave of water. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled a last breath of air. The freezing cold water of the North Atlantic wrapped around him as a heavy blanket would. Once he breathed in the water, a strong burning sensation formed within his lungs. Suddenly, the burning had ceased and Thomas entered a tranquil state of no pain. His eyelids flickered and closed for one last time.


End file.
